Captain America: The Winter Soldier

We've been hearing forever that this film in the the "70s thriller" mold, and now Chris Evans offers up his theory as to why this genre works for Captain America:

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The brothers said right from the start that we were really doing a '70s thriller. And I think just Cap's abilities mesh well with that kind of genre. I mean, his powers are very meat and potatoes. Faster. Stronger. Punch. Kick. That works with those types of movies. It would be more difficult to put, say, Hulk in that kind of context.

In the same Empire interview, Evans says that the film shows Steve trying to find his place in the modern world. He also described what he thinks sets Steve apart:

To be a good man is difficult. To be the best man you can be is even harder. Even though he doesn't choose to wear his baggage on his sleeve, I think that's his skill set. He doesn't moan. There is a depth to him. There are always new things to find.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

We haven't seen Toad since the first X-Men movie, when Halle Berry showed him what happens to toads struck by lightning. Now it turns out Evan Joingkeit will play a younger version of Toad in this prequel/sequel. He did say that his Toad will look very different to the one played by Ray Park in the first film:

The aesthetics of the character are much different, and I'm not really allowed to say a whole lot more than that. . . . It's darker. I would say it's a darker tone.

Chappie

Hugh Jackman posted a photo of himself on Instagram, with this caption:

Day 1 on Chappie! Vincent is born, rocking the mullet. Working with Neill Blomkamp in SA. This film is rad.

Little is known about Neill Blomkamp's upcoming comedy, other than that it centers on the eponymous robot, who gets kidnapped by two criminals during birth and becomes the adopted son of a strange family. We also know that Sharlto Copley will voice Chappie. But of the rest of the cast – Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Dev Patel, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja of the South African rap rave "zef" crew Die Antwoord – have not had their characters revealed. Perhaps Weaver and Jackman play the adopted parents? [Moviefone]

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The latest Daily Bugle tumblr post both wraps up what happened to Dr, Curt Connors after the first movie and may set up his alter ego for either the Sinister Six movie or maybe, given that we know Ravenscroft is in the sequel, a cameo there. Here's the text:

By Joy Mercado

The trial of Dr. Curt Connors came to an end as the former geneticist for Oscorp Industries was found guilty on all twenty counts for which he was indicted, including the murder of NYPD Captain George Stacy.

Connors and his attorney, Anne Weying, were unable to convince the jury that he was not responsible for his deadly actions while transformed. His defense that he only injected himself with the serum that changed him into the Lizard to prevent Oscorp Industries from experimenting on innocent civilians did not sway the jury.

Next stop: Rikers. But even that is controversial. Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane has said their facility is better served for housing and studying a prisoner such as Connors, but the judge has yet to rule on where Curt Connors will spend what is likely to be the rest of his life.

The Cobbler

Here's a photo of Adam Sandler in The Cobbler, in which he plays a shoe-repair guy who develops the ability to walk in other people's shoes (i.e., live their experiences) for a period of time. [EW via First Showing]

The LEGO Movie

RoboCop

Doctor Who

The BBC released the first set photo of Peter Capaldi, which has him still in 11's clothes. (We featured it in yesterday's 2014 TV preview, but it's below in case you missed it.) There were also some new interviews. Here's what Capaldi said when got to his first filming:

This is going to be a huge year for science fiction and fantasy television, including some major…
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New job, first day, slightly nervous. Just like the Doctor, I'm emerging from the TARDIS into a whole other world.

And a quick tease from Steven Moffat:

First the eyebrows! Then, at Christmas, the face! Coming soon, the whole Doctor. In the Cardiff studios, the Capaldi era begins.

The photo's below.

Agents of SHIELD

If you're worried about the reveal of what's happened to Coulson, Clark Gregg seems to be pleased with the result, saying:

As a fanboy, I thought, "How are they going to do this? They've been keeping this for 10 episodes." We know that there's something bogus about the magical place concept. He can't even say Tahiti without turning into a robot. Is he a robot? How did they bring him back? Is he some kind of Life Model Decoy, as all the Marvel fans think? Is he the Vision? There's all these theories. How do you do this for real and really pay it off? At the same time, you don't want them to go, "Well, I guess that's the finale of the show. There's really no need to continue after this. The bullet was in the chamber, now it's completely blown." When I read the script, I was blown away because it's completely satisfying to me as a fanboy, and, as probably the biggest fanboy in Phil Coulson in the Marvel Universe, because it's not a tease, it's: here's what happened! At the same time, what they've crafted not only opens up enough questions that are at the existential core of Phil Coulson and his relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., but really set the direction for the back end of the season and the future of the series. I was very, very impressed with what they delivered here.

Showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen talked about how much of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s past we'll be seeing and the problems the show faces in doing that:

We will dive into the vast history of S.H.I.E.L.D. at some point, but as with all things, we exist in the MCU and must tread lightly when it comes to reveals and storylines they plan to delve into within the films. Coulson has a deep fascination and respect for that history, so it's only natural that we will explore it in detail in time.

Tancharoen also answered a question about whether there'd be more people with powers "like Scorch," as opposed to the sort of scientifically endowed powers of many of the other characters already seen:

Yes. Tech served as a great entry into this world for us. Keep in mind, when our show debuted, there were only two humans alive with superpowers in the entire history of the MCU (Cap and Hulk), so we had to be very responsible with how many and how rapidly we began to introduce them.

Playing "spot the Stan Lee cameo" is a tradition when watching Marvel movies, but in an…
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Sleepy Hollow

Star Nicole Beharie says that the season finale's going to be a shocker:

I don't think anyone sees what's coming. I was completely thrown. There are so many twists, turns and ways that all of the different storylines start to make sense. It's definitely up there with the big stuff you get in a series finale.

A LIFE-CHANGING, DEMONIC TRUTH IS REVEALED ON THE TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE OF "SLEEPY HOLLOW" MONDAY, JANUARY 20, ON FOX

Ichabod and Abbie discover a dark secret buried within the pages of George Washington's Bible and unearth the shocking true nature of the founding father's death. Meanwhile, Capt. Irving makes a near-impossible decision for the sake of his beloved family that drastically changes his future. Then, the battle between good and evil comes to an explosive head. Sacrifices must be made, worlds collide, loyalties are tested and the town of SLEEPY HOLLOW will never be the same in the all-new special two-hour "The Indispensable Man/Bad Blood" Season Finale episode of SLEEPY HOLLOW airing Monday, Jan. 20 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (SLH-112/13) (TV-14 L, V)

Star Wars: Rebels

Looking at upcoming LEGO sets for the series have revealed two called "The Phantom" and "The Ghost." Both sets are for ships, but the details also seem to name two characters: a "young Rebel hero" called Ezra Bridger and someone called Zeb. What are the chances these will be the main characters? [Slashfilm]

Intelligence

Here's how Josh Holloway describes his character, Gabriel Vaughn:

Would you describe Gabriel as TheSix Billion Dollar Man? The difference, though, is he hasn't been enhanced in any way physically. Which is very interesting. He can get shot, he can get killed just as easily as you and me. That was appealing to me too — I didn't want him to be this super human that you can't hurt or Robocop, who is more machine than human. This is simply a computer chip in his head, so yeah, you have information but that's it. He's not physically enhanced and he's having problems with this chip — he's going to get hacked, he has viruses, the downside of computers is that we want to Frisbee them against the wall sometimes because they don't work [laughs], so there's that element and I was very adamant about that when I took the job. All my questions were around that: What if he's addicted to, like, polka dancing, and that's all he streams all the time? What if he can't control the data flow? What if his dreams go wild? He's not this super agent that can do everything — no, he's having problems with this f—er — so it's good. It makes it real to me and a more interesting dynamic to play.

Gabriel is one of America's most powerful weapons. But he's also a loose weapon. Who's a bigger threat to him: The terrorists or himself?

Well, ultimately the terrorists but he doesn't make it easy! He doesn't play by the rules exactly — he's an instinctual soldier and that's also what I liked about this character. He's a soldier more than a computer guy, right? He was taught through Delta, he's been through all these combat tours pre enhancement so he's used to making decisions from instinct, making decisions in deep, hardcore operations, he's used to operating in that way and surviving. So that had to change. He makes field calls on the day that don't exactly compute with the information that he's getting per se — it reminds me of that line in Star Wars: "Never tell me the odds." His brain already tells him the odds. So he just doesn't listen to it. (laughs) But he definitely uses it to help — he wants to survive but he's more human than computer.

WHEN CYBERCOM INVESTIGATES A TERRORIST SUICIDE BOMBING, GABRIEL IS SHOCKED WHEN HE COMES FACE-TO-FACE WITH HIS WIFE, WHEN "INTELLIGENCE" MOVES TO ITS REGULAR MONDAY TIME SLOT, ON MONDAY, JAN. 13

"Red X" - CyberCom investigates a terrorist suicide bombing at a U.S. Marine base and learns a new, chemically undetectable bomb material is being consumed. Meanwhile, Riley is forced to make a drastic decision when she finds Gabriel unable to complete a task, on INTELLIGENCE, Monday, Jan. 13 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Ravenswood

According to Nicole Gale Anderson, there's something big in store for Miranda:

[There's a] huge choice for Miranda's storyline at the very end of the first episode. And it really molds her character and her character's storyline. So it changes a lot for her. It's a huge game changer at the end of the first episode.